Brian S. Chung

CREST Diversity Dissertation Fellow, 2010-2011

Brian Su-Jen Chung earned his Ph.D. in American Culture at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and he received his B.A. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, San Diego. His research and teaching interests include race and popular music, power and space, Chinese diasporic culture and politics, and post-war California urban and suburban history. Brian’s dissertation examined the historical shifts in racial hegemonies part and parcel to the making and re-making of Silicon Valley from post-war Cold-War suburb to a Chinese cosmopolitan Pacific Rim hub of transnational high-technology industries. More specifically, he examined the changing and contested visual and spatial economies of meaning that normalize the racialized codes of behavior and conduct, which constitute what it means to be a deserving “citizen” of Silicon Valley.

Brian has conducted ethnographic research in Cupertino, California, considered to be the “Heart of Silicon Valley” as well as the “Valley of Hearts Delight” for its agricultural and viticulture past. He has also conducted archival research at the California History Center at De Anza College, San Jose State Library, Cupertino Public Library, and Cupertino Historical Society. Brian utilizes a discourse analysis of this ethnographic and archival research towards understanding how these two narratives shape how residents claim their belonging to the region. His research has been supported by the by the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation of International Scholarly Exchange in Chinese Studies and the University of Michigan Rackham Merit Fellowship. Brian has presented his work at the Association for Asian American Studies and the American Studies Association annual conference. When Brian’s not working on his dissertation, he enjoys exercising, collecting music, dj-ing, cooking, and watching shows about cooking.